The subject matter herein relates generally to conductor positioning fixtures that are used for positioning and securing cable conductors in place for processing the cable conductors.
Cable assemblies are used for providing a conductive path between devices for transmitting electrical and/or optical signals along the conductive path. The ends of the cable in a cable assembly may be prepared for electrically and/or optically connecting to the corresponding devices by processing the ends. Electrical and/or optical cables may be processed by stripping a cable jacket, untwisting cable conductors, cutting the ends of the cable conductors, stripping an insulation (or other surrounding) layer from the ends of the cable conductors, crimping a terminal to the ends of the cable conductors, soldering a terminal to the ends of the cable conductors, inserting the ends of the cable conductors into mechanical splices, and/or the like. The cable conductors may be electrical wires and/or optical fibers.
Known methods of preparing low volumes of cables for processing are generally manual. For example, an operator may use a wire stripper to cut and remove an end segment of a cable jacket, exposing the conductors. Then the operator may manually untwist the conductors, before presenting the cable with the exposed conductors to various processing stations for cutting (e.g., zero-cutting), stripping, and terminating (e.g., crimping, soldering, and/or connecting to terminal or splice devices) the conductors. The manual approach has several disadvantages, including low efficiency, accuracy, and repeatability. For example, it may be difficult for an operator to produce a series of cable assemblies that have substantially the same characteristics, such as having substantially the same cable breakout length extending from the edge of the cable jacket to the ends of the conductors. Some of the cable assemblies with different characteristics may have to be disposed for not meeting strict product specifications. It also may be difficult and time-consuming for the operator to manually align each of the conductors with an input opening in a designated processing machine. Since the conductors within the jacket may be twisted, it may be difficult and time-consuming to manually un-twist and orient the conductors towards a given input opening, especially for processing machines that have multiple openings for receiving more than one of the conductors at the same time.
A need remains for a conductor positioning fixture that assists an operator with positioning cable conductors in designated positions and securing the cable conductors in the designated positions for more efficient, accurate, and repeatably cable processing.